Daily Archives: January 12, 2012

…can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this one. “Oh, I can say what I want on here. Doesn’t matter…it’s just Twitter”. But therein lies the problem. It’s NOT just Twitter…not anymore. Twitter has evolved from 140 characters or less of “this lil’ quick thought I had” to a way for people to become who they always wanted to be but never could. If you felt you always had something to say but were never heard, you come say something quirky and quickly get a retweet from one of your friends. Say something to a celebrity & be one of the lucky few they respond to & you feel on top of the world. Twitter made people feel accepted when others didn’t. We were feens and Twitter was our drug…and here is where it spread like crack in the ghetto.

People started to change for Twitter. People you personally known for years developed this Clark Kent/Superman persona when it came to Twitter all in the name of “It’s just Twitter”.

Sooner or later, Twitter became the “Party Line” with pictures. You could be anybody you wanted to be and only a select few knew the truth. And if they didn’t like, f*** ‘em. They can unfollow you.

In real life, you’re the shy ambitious kid in the back of the class that gets good grades but no one talks to. But on Twitter, you say & talk more s*** than a lil’ bit because you know you’ll never come across these folks in real life.

In real life, you know your credit’s so f***ed up you need a cosigner for a gift card & can’t open a bank account in your own name but no one on Twitter knows that because you’re constantly stuntin’ about how big your savings account is or talking about how you’re going shopping in New York for the weekend or taking pictures of the stuff you bought that you know you’re gonna return tomorrow just to seem cool.

In real life, you’re actually lonely and looking for someone special but you can’t find them because your constantly at the club tweeting to your followers how much of a great time you’re having.

That’s the problem with Twitter…it’s not real life. But folks have blurred the lines.

See in the real world, you don’t have time to sit and think about the next thing to say. How many times have we written a Tweet only to delete it because we didn’t know how it would come across? Try doing that in everyday conversation without sounding like you belong in Special Ed. Bet you’re following someone who may be funny as hell on Twitter but in real life when you talk, it’s like “blah”.

Twitter became a way thee way of life. Before we brushed our teeth in the morning, we are hopping on Twitter saying “Good morning” or looking at our mentions to see if some night owl mentioned us while we were sleep (I’m guilty of this too!!!). Twitter, and social media altogether as a matter of fact, is slowly replaced physical interaction. It isn’t about the about the quality of the people you meet anymore but the amount of followers you have on Twitter (#teamfollowback). Problem with that is then folks started getting reckless and rambunctious for followers. Bet a couple of you have ran across a Tebow/Jesus joke that you had to give the side-eye or came across those pictures on Facebook of Jesus & the Devil having sex (made me deactivate my account…for a while. I’m a recovering addict).

Can’t underestimate the power of the T-W-I-T-T-E-R. If Twitter was just Twitter, why don’t I just unfollow that person who constantly talks s*** that I ain’t feeling or is always retweeting EVERY SINGLE one of their horoscopes so much it made me forget I’m an Aries & start thinking I’m a Libra? Because people take unfollowing personal. If they didn’t, sites like FriendorFollow.com wouldn’t exist. “Oh, you gonna unfollow me? I’ll unfollow you back!!!” Now next time you see that person, it’s awkward as hell because people see you unfollowing them on Twitter like you not wanting to be their friend.

In a nutshell, my dear reader. Don’t get sucked into the Twitter world so much that you start not living in the Real World. Besides…they’ll be some new social media in a couple of years that will make Twitter the MySpace of 2014.